April 1997 Vol. 9, No. 6 (D)

CROATIA

HUMAN RIGHTS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA

DURING AND AFTER THE TRANSITION OF AUTHORITY

SUMMARY 2

RECOMMENDATIONS 3

BACKGROUND 5

RESOLUTION OF PROPERTY DISPUTES AND THE RIGHT TO RETURN 8

A Comprehensive Solution 10

The Right to Return 11

Protection Concerns 12

Serb Exodus 14

WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS AND APPLICATION OF THE AMNESTY 16

Lists of War Crimes Suspects 16

Application of the Amnesty: Non bis in idem 18

IRREGULARITIES IN THE ISSUANCE OF CROATIAN DOCUMENTS 18

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN EASTERN SLAVONIA 19

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 21

SUMMARY

Eastern Slavonia, the only remaining Serb-held region of Croatia, is scheduled to revert to Croatian control by July 15, 1997. Some 120,000 to 150,000 Serbs living in that region will then come under the authority of their bitter opponent during the war. The transition of authority in Eastern Slavonia is designed to be carried out peacefully under the auspices of a United Nations peace-keeping operation. However, there remain concerns that the transition may be accompanied or followed by serious violations of human rights, as occurred after Croatia recaptured the Krajina, or by a mass exodus of Serbs in the region, repeating on a much broader scale the problems that arose during the transition of authority in Sarajevo's suburbs last year. The Croatian government has issued numerous widely publicized statements and pledges, enthusiastically welcomed by the international community, guaranteeing the rights of ethnic Serbs in Eastern Slavonia. Yet, it has failed to take the steps necessary to permit the exercise of some of the most fundamental of these rights. Nearly half of these Serbs have already been displaced once, after the Croatian military offensives in 1995 that recaptured the other Serb-held areas of Croatia. If another mass exodus is to be avoided and widespread human rights abuses prevented, the Croatian government must undertake concrete measures that will give meaning to otherwise empty declarations of the right of displaced Serbs to return to their original homes or to remain in Eastern Slavonia. In addition, the international community must pressure Croatia to fulfill its human rights obligations to facilitate the right of return as well to undertake measures necessary to enable ethnic Serbs to stay in Eastern Slavonia.

Rebel Serbs seized control of Eastern Slavonia after fierce fighting in the latter half of 1991, during and after which the Serbs expelled over 80,000 non-Serbs living in the region. In 1995, 60,000 of the 200,000 Serbs fleeing Croatian military offensives against the Krajina and Western Slavonia resettled in Eastern Slavonia. In November 1995, after the other Serb-held regions were recaptured by the government, the Croatian government and Croatian Serb leaders signed an agreement providing for the peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia into the Republic of Croatia under the authority of what would become the United Nations Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), avoiding thereby a recurrence of the violent reclamation of the Krajina and Western Slavonia. The implementation of that agreement is now entering its final phase. Over the course of the next three and one-half months, elections will be held in the region, in conjunction with nationwide elections, and Croatian services and institutions will accelerate their deployment in the region. Under current agreement among UNTAES, the Croatian government and local Serb leaders, the region will revert fully to Croatian authority by July 15, 1997.

The 1995 agreement contained strong support for human rights, declaring that "[t]he highest levels of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be respected in the region." The agreement also specified that displaced persons were to enjoy their right to return to their original homes or to remain in the region. It further provided for human rights monitoring by the international community during implementation of the agreement as well as on a long-term basis following the transition of authority.

It will be absolutely crucial to protect and closely monitor the human rights of former and present residents of Eastern Slavonia of all ethnicities in this final phase of the transition of authority. The complete failure of the Croatian government to create a mechanism to resolve property ownership disputes and facilitate the return of displaced persons to their original homes creates a significant threat to peaceful reintegration in a region where as many as 70,000 displaced Serbs nervously await the return of some 80,000 displaced Croats. Tensions and hostilities remaining from the armed conflict run high on both the Croat and Serb sides. Already, there has been a light flow of Serbs leaving Eastern Slavonia for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serb-controlled areas of Bosnia and Hercegovina. Departing Serbs are increasingly plundering with near impunity property from non-Serbs, or from the abandoned homes of non-Serbs, and moving it to Serbia. Tensions have only been exacerbated by the Croatian government's generation of lists of suspected war criminals which serve to intimidate the Serb population. Nor has UNTAES helped matters by engaging in negotiations over the size of the "official" government list of suspects, raising more questions about the validity of the list. Under such circumstances, human rights violations willperpetuate a cycle of violence threatening stability in Eastern Slavonia and beyond. This policy paper addresses some of these central human rights issues in the final phase of the transition of authority in that region.